Pessary



Nov. 27, 1934. E C H'AA 1,982,001

PESSARY Filed Jan. 19, 1933 m E; Z

few-z: C 49/;

Patented Nov. 27, 1934 isten a, PESSABY Earle C. Haas, Denver, Colo.

Application January 19,

1933, Serial No. 652.466

3 Claims. (Cl; 128-130) This invention relates to a pessary, moreparticularly of the type of uterine pessary used in the treatment ofpathological conditions and anatomical fiexions of the cervical portionof the 5' uterus.

The principm object of the present inventionis to provide aself-retaining pessary which will prevent the entrance of foreignsubstances into the cavity of the uterus, and yet will not interferewith the flow of discharges from the uterus.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the pessary that whenin place, its stem portion will be maintained out of contact with thewalls of the cervical canal.

A further object is to provide a pessary for the correction ofanatomical fiexions of the cervix uteri by means of which a firm yetgentle pressure may be applied to any desired points in the cervicalcanal.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of theinvention, which is designed ,for simplicity, economy, and efliciency.These will become more apparent from the following description. 1

In the following detailed description of the invention reference is hadto the accompanying drawing which forms apart hereof. Like numeralsrefer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout thedescription. I

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a preferred form of the completepessary. In this view the invention' is illustrated approximately fullsize.

Fig. 2 is a magnified, longitudinal section through the pessary of Fig.1.

Fig. 3 illustrates an alternate form of wire stiffener for the pessary.

Fig. 4 illustrates how the alternate form may be embedded in a rubberhead instead of the 40 metal head originally illustrated.

The preferred form of the pessary comprises a relatively stiff wire stem10 terminating at its outer extremity in a fixed bottom 11. At its innetextremity the stem is bifurcated to form two resilient retaining prongs12, which in turn terminate in bulbous ends 13. As thus far described,the

pessary is similar to the usual stem pessary, ex-

is a series of flexible, hollow, cone-shaped valves or guards 15 alongthe stem thereof. These guards are preferably formed of very thinrubber, and may be secured on the stem in any desired manner. Anydesired number of .the guards may be employed.

A preferred form of the construction is illustrated in the drawing, inwhichthe entire stem and the prongs 12 are coated with a covering of.rubber 16. The guards 15 are then placed upon additional dippings orcoatings, after which, the

rubber may be cured, preferably by-the air or gas curing processes. Thisforms the guards and the stem coating into an integral rubber unit;

The above is only suggested as one method of manufacture. The guardsmight be made and secured to the stem in other manners and the devicecould be rubber plated by any of the commercial processes.

In use the pessary is inserted into the cervix as is usual with stempessaries. The insertion 185 may be done with any of the standardpessary introducers or may be accomplished by placing one-half of asoluble capsule over the prongs 12 so as to hold them together until thepessary is in place. The dissolving of the capsule will then allow theprongs to separate within the uterus so as to retain the pessary inplace, The button 11 limits the amount of insertion of the pessary. Whenin place, the natural resiliency of the cones or guards 15 causes themto tend to expand outwardly against the walls of the cervical canal soas to exert a continuous gentle pressure to cor- -rect abnormalanatomical flexions. This pressure may be applied to any desired pointorpoints along the cervex uteri by choosing a pessary with the propernumber of guards positioned at the proper points along the stem.

It is desired to call attention to the fact that the ,guardspressoutwardly withequal pressure .in

that when inplace the base'ofthe cones will toward cs externum,thereioredrainage from the 31':

body ofthe uterus or the cervical canal is not interrupted asit canreadily flow past the edges of the flexible cones. However thisarrangement 01 the cones causes them to act as guards or check valves toprevent the entrance of foreign substances from the vagina into theuterus. The outwardly flared position of the cones also causes them tohave a tendency to constantly urge the pessary inwardly toward theuterus so as to increase the self -retaining qualities of the pessaryand relieve the pressure usually exerted on the walls of the uterus bythe prongs 12.

The pessary may be constructed as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 in whicha spring wire, such as piano wire 1'7, is bent back upon itself andtwisted as shown at 18. The bent back portion is flattened such asindicated at 19, to form a head, and the extremities are turned backupon themselves as shown at 20. The entire wire thus formed is encasedin rubber as in the previous forms. The flattened head of the wire iscompletely encased in a soft rubber button 21. I

While specific materials andv forms of the improvement have beendescribed and illustrated herein, it is desired to be understood thatthe same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claims, withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired securedby Letters Patent is:-

1. A pessary comprising: -a stem; a button formed on one extremity ofsaid stem; a rubber casing surrounding said stem; and a series ofhollow, flexible, cone-shaped members spaced along said stem with theirapexes directed away from said button, said members being secured tosaid casing.

2. A pessary comprising: a stem; a button formed on one extremity ofsaid stem; a rubber casing surrounding said stem; and a series ofhollow, flexible, conehaped members spaced along said stem from saidbutton, said members being formed integrally with said casing.

3. A pessary comprising: a stem; a button formed on one extremity ofsaid stem; a rubber casing surrounding said stem; and a series ofhollow, flexible, cone-shaped members spaced along said stem with theirapexes directed away from said button, said members being formedintegrally with said casing; and a bifurcated flared portion on theother extremity of said stem, said latter portion being enclosed by saidcasing.

EARLE c. HAAS.

with their apexes directed awayv

